INNOCENTIAN CURIA. - Innocent XII, after having abolished various privileged judicatures by the constitution Romanus Pontifex curae of 17 September 1692 and after having remitted all causes to the ordinary judges, wished for the convenience of the Roman curia to gather the various tribunals of Rome into a single building. To that end he purchased from the Ludovisi family the building (begun by Bernini) not yet completed and some nearby houses, "the whole situated in the locality of Rome called Montecitorio." He then charged the architect Mattia de Rossi with the continuation of the building.
On the ground floor were the offices and chanceries of the civil tribunals; on the upper floors the auditor general of the Rev. Apostolic Camera, the tribunals of first instance, the treasurer general of the Rev. Apostolic Camera and their secretariats, as well as the criminal tribunal of the same auditor general. The offices of the notaries of the said auditor were also transferred into the said Curia.
In the central loggia the lottery draw used to be held every 15 days. That draw was reinstated there by Pius VII, after his return to Rome following the Napoleonic deportation. The c. i., so called from the name of its founder, continued to function with its civil and criminal tribunals until 1848, when the auditor general of the Rev. Apostolic Camera ceased to have a tribunal of his own and also left the c. i. as the place of his residence. A like fate befell the treasurer general. New tenants and new offices more suited to the times took their place in the c. i. The monsignor director general of police, having obtained the rank of minister and having also been given the office of vice-chamberlain, was granted residence in the c. i. together with the seat of his offices. The same was done in 1853 for the minister of the Interior and for the department of Grace and Justice. It has been the seat of Parliament since 27 November 1871.
Bibliography3 works
Guglielmo Felici